‘There was one late yesterday, but it was full and he wasn’t on it. I checked flights for the coming days though, and found he’s booked on a flight next Monday to Milan Malpensa airport.’

‘So, why is he in London? Ah, I see. He’s desperate to leave the country and as there are no flights from Manchester for a few days he decided to head for London,’ James said, thinking it through aloud.

‘Exactly, and the CCTV from Windermere Station confirmed it for us a short time ago. Salvi was shown boarding a train for the capital. The journey time is about five and a half hours to Euston so he would have arrived last evening.

‘The obvious thing to do then was check all Heathrow flights and that’s when his name cropped up on the one to Milan Malpensa that leaves soon.’

‘You’ve done a brilliant job, Ahmed,’ James said. ‘Well done. We now just have to hope that the team at Heathrow will stop him boarding that plane.’

Just before nine o’clock, DC Sharma came off the phone with an update for James.

‘Carlo Salvi has been apprehended by the police at Heathrow, sir,’ he said. ‘He was waiting to board the flight to Milan when they got him. He didn’t put up any resistance and has confirmed to officers that he’d travelled to London from Cumbria yesterday. His three suitcases are being removed from the hold and arrangements are now being made to have him brought north to Kendal.’

‘That’s great news, Ahmed,’ James said. ‘Hopefully we’ll be able to put him on the spot this afternoon. Can you make sure there’s a duty solicitor on standby?’

CHAPTER FORTY

The morning briefing got under way on time and James began by holding up a copy of the post-mortem report on Rachel Elliott that Dr Pam Flint had sent over during the night. He explained that a senior officer based in Carlisle had attended the PM and had passed on his observations in an email.

‘The pathologist has confirmed that Rachel died from a severe blow to the back of the head, sustained when she fell or was pushed onto one of the jetty posts,’ he said. ‘It resulted in internal haemorrhaging and led to irreparable brain damage. She also suffered two blows to her face – one on her forehead and the other below her left eye – and the bruises on her arms were defence wounds, inflicted by a blunt instrument that could have been a heavy torch, a crowbar or even a large stone.

‘We have two other significant factors of note. The first is that there were no deposits under her nails, which suggests that she probably didn’t manage to grab her assailant, and the second is that blood tests show she’d consumed high levels of alcohol.

‘We still don’t know why she ended up on the jetty during the wedding reception. It could have been because she wanted to be by herself to have a think or because she hoped the breeze from the lake would help her to sober up. It could also be that she arranged to meet someone there. Maybe the person who killed her.’